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Alexandre Desplat

Audiences around the world go to see a Wes Anderson film for many reasons; imagination, creativity, wonder and most of all, amazement. A man who has crafted and added to, not only a branch of the film industry within the independent market, but an individual who arguable has his own genre of film, proves with his latest that you are able to make an independent success, commercial darling and fading animation style feature film revolutionary. After eight feature films which enrich the medium as a whole, Wes Anderson delved, for a second time, into the stop-motion foray with his ninth future film, and quite possibly his best yet with Isle of Dogs. Continue reading

Running for his life, a young soldier Hans Quangel (Louis Hofmann) finds himself jolting in a bleak and otherwise bare forest somewhere in the battlefields of World War II. Scared, alone and out of breath, the young German soldier seems lost and directionless. As his breaths sharpen and his fear settle, the young soldier spends most of his run with his head looking back; whether it be an enemy, the war itself, or a version of himself he is fearful of becoming, the young Quangel maneuvers himself between the tall and dark trees, the mysteriousness of the forest and the impending and looming death that looks for many young men in the battlefields of war. Before anyone can make any sense of it, we hear a gunshot, fatally wounding the young soldier and forcing him to the ground. As his bright blue eyes begin to turn to grey, life fleeting him quickly and the forest embodying his body, Alone In Berlin begins with what seem like an insignificant death to many, but an impactful one for few. Continue reading

Today, movie lovers will unite and bask in the glory of the highest honours given to film and cinema. The official announcement of the Academy Awards are today, and for the first time in the history of the Academy, they have announced all categories on a televised programming. This is really exciting stuff because film is finally beginning to be recognized as a collaborative art; one that involves each and every individual, from so many diverse talents, all across the board. Celebrated directors J.J Abrams and Alfonso Cuaron were responsible for announcing all the technical awards, while Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs and actor Chris Pine revealed the higher profile nominations.

So without any further delay, here are the 87th Annual Academy Award Nominations:Continue reading

In 2010, director Gareth Edwards made his way to the festival scene by ways of Monsters, a eco-centric, sci-fi hit that introduced audiences to the wonders of large scale destruction and monsters mixed with the small scale effects of the individual characters as well as making a name for the extremely talented Scoot McNairy (12 Years A Slave, Non-Stop). Think District 9 with monsters instead of aliens. Fast forward four years later, thanks to the critical success of his first full length indie feature, and Edwards, who has been given the keys to the commercial kingdom, is front and centre in adapting the King of Monsters in only the second Americanized version since the abysmal yet highly popcorn-crunchingly entertaining Godzilla remake from Roland Emmerich from 1998. Entrusted with a massive $160 million dollar budget from Warner Bros. Pictures, after acquiring the rights of the iconic beast from Toho in 2010, Edwards proves that Godzilla reigns at destroying one thing, and one thing only, the promise of young filmmakers career’s. Continue reading

“You see, there are still faint glimmers of civilization left in this barbaric slaughter house that was once known as humanity”. If there was ever a quote to sum up the films of Wes Anderson, this would be high on the list. Highly inventive, absurd, and at times, narratively incoherent, Anderson’s eighth feature film is a grand, accommodating feature whose self is probably not as grand as the cast it has rounded out.